On one of Peggy William's trips I met a nice lady who was a teacher.  She
was very into shelling so loved teaching about them.  She taught on the
elementary level and used the shells as a lesson and as a bribe for good
behavior.  Each week she would introduce a shell as part of the science
lesson.  As the week went on the children would learn about the habits and
habitat of that shell.  At the end of the week if they had received no bad
marks for behavior they would receive one of those shells to take home.  She
lived in Florida so was able to schedule a shell gathering outing for the
students.  How lucky they were.  I believe she is now retired.  We shipped
surplus shells to her to use for her students.

Recently through our Rotary Club my husband and I went to the local school
and read to students.  My husband took a book on shells and examples of the
shells in the book.  He said the teacher was as much interested in them as
the students.

Jan
----- Original Message -----
From: "helmut nisters" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 12:03 PM
Subject: AW: Re: Introducing myself


> Dear Conchlers,
>
> I would like to know how many young people are on the list. There is James
> Cheshire, aged about 15, Jan Steger,
> aged about 10, but further. In Austria we are only few members on the
list.
> I think at about 5 if it is so. I had made
> malacology better known to schools, but I think it is very hard to work
> together with some teachers, as they are
> not willing to learn something new for them or more. They make more
> researches in ecology, studying chemical
> connections in waters and in air, so that the knowledge of species of
> animals and plants is going lost. Some pupils
> can't tell you even the most common names of plants, animals and so on. So
> I find it wonderful when a young
> boy is starting a collection of shells and want to learn a lot of them. He
> has two or three books where he can
> learn the shells quite well, where at the moment he can confront some
> species and where he is able to see,
> what he can obtain. I will do my best to supply him with material in the
> future and I hope you will do the same.
> with best shelling greetings to you all. How is malacology treated in
> American or German schools or everywhere.
> Helmut
>
> Helmut "Helix" Nisters
> private:
> Franz-Fischer-Str. 46
> A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
> phone: 0043 / 512 / 57 32 14
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> website: www.netwing.at/nisters
> office:
> Natural History Department of the
> Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum Innsbruck
> Feldstrasse 11a
> A-6020 Innsbruck / Austria / Europe
> phone: 0043 / 512 / 58 72 86 - 37
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
> website: www.tiroler-landesmuseum.at
>
>
> ----------
> It is indeed a pleasure to welcome a new and young and enthusiastic shell
> collector to our great hobby. This, my friends, is a golden opportunity
for
> all of us to grab this new and enthusiastic interest and encourage it's
> development.
>
> I am going to send this young man some shells I have collected here in the
> Tampa Bay area where I live, as well as shells collected on my trips to
the
> Bahamas with Jim and Bobbi Cordy. I would hope that other of you self
> collectors out there would possibly do the same. The future of our hobby
> lies
> in the hands of the youth of today. We need more young people to show such
> an
> interest if our beloved passion is to proceed to the next generation
>
> Thank you Helmut Nisters for bring this young man to our attention and
> introducing him to the list.
>
> Martin Tremor
> St. Petersburg, FL
>